Scattered Across Skyrim
by Dark Purple Insanity
Summary: Harry didn't want to hunt dragons for a living. Ron didn't want to serve under royalty. Hermione did want to go to a magic school, though. Then again, not everyone gets what they want, and six children falling through the Veil of Death changes everything. Because really, what better way to get rid of your enemies than to scatter them to the winds. INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elder Scrolls: Skyrim or Harry Potter.**

As Harry was walked down the halls of the Ministry, surrounded by his friends, he couldn't help but come to the conclusion that Snape was an evil asshole.

Oh, sure, he had always _known_ that Snape was an asshole, and Ron was constantly saying he was evil, but that didn't mean that they _actually_ thought it was true. Dumbledore trusted him, so they figured they could trust him too.

But they couldn't.

When the six of them had rushed from Hogwarts to the Ministry to try and save Sirius (which they now knew was a trap), Snape had stopped them, before sending them on their way with a promise to contact the Order. Considering the situation they were in right now, that never happened.

Harry glanced down at the magic suppressing cuffs on his wrists. No one had come, and Voldemort had gotten what he was looking for. He had chased Bellatrix to the Atrium, where Voldemort had appeared and, instead of some long drawn out battle where one of them would end up killing the other, Voldemort simply stunned him. _Stunned him_. He had felt a little insulted it wasn't a killing curse, but he supposed his survival couldn't be something to complain about. When he had come to, he had expected to be surrounded by Death Eaters, waiting for him to wake up so they could torture him. Instead, he found himself chained to a chair next to his five friends, surrounded by the ministry who preceded to level charge after charge on them.

To be fair, he figured that some of them _were_ Death Eaters waiting to torture him.

Any time they tried to plead that they were only trying to stop Voldemort and save someone from being tortured, they were rebuffed. They were all charged to go to Azkaban for the rest of their lives, for sheer property damage alone. Apparently, he and all six of his friends became classified as a 'rather large danger to society'.

He could remember seeing Lucius' smug smile, Fudge's full-blown grin, and Dumbledore's disappointed eye twinkle.

The last one had probably pissed Harry off the most.

Before they were to be carted off to Azkaban they were offered a few final minutes with their family. He was glad Dumbledore didn't try to get the Dursleys to come to say goodbye. He might have killed them for no other reason than because it would be his last chance to.

He had watched as everyone but Hermione say their goodbyes (muggles weren't allowed in the ministry, they had said). Mr. and Mrs. Weasely cried their goodbyes to Ron and Ginny. Neville's grandmother glared at him for a second before giving a tight goodbye and walking out. Luna had hugged her dad, who then whispered something to her, and Remus had walked up to him.

Remus had given him a hug, telling him that Tonks was keeping Padfoot from doing anything reckless. He also discreetly stuffed something in his pocket, before saying a final goodbye and leaving.

Then Dumbledore approached him.

Dumbledore had told him that they should have told someone before they left, that they should have trusted him enough to get word to him about what they were doing, and how he would get them out of Azkaban soon enough. All without meeting his eyes.

Then, he whispered to him about the prophecy.

After that, something in Harry just snapped. He had yelled back that they did tell a teacher, a teacher that Dumbledore had told them to trust, and that that teacher didn't do shit. He had yelled that if he wanted to be trusted, he had better start trusting Harry back, or else Harry would tell him nothing. And he screamed that Dumbledore _had_ no more power, anywhere, and that no one would be able to get them out before they all had their souls sucked out of them. Finally, he roared that the whole reason they were going to Azkaban was because Dumbledore hadn't felt it necessary to tell him that there might be a reason Voldemort would want to lure him into the Ministry in the first place.

The only reason his hadn't destroyed the room they were in was because of the magic suppressing cuffs on his wrists.

Dumbledore had left without another word, and Fawkes, who had been perched on his shoulder, glanced back at Harry for a long moment before he dropped a single feather on the floor.

Harry reached down to pick it up, before being hugged by a solemn Hermione.

Soon the only remaining parents had to be forced out by Ministry Personnel, and the six of them were then forced to watch their as their wands were snapped in front of them, one by one.

That led to where they were now, being forced down the hallway to where they would be portkeyed to Azkaban.

Harry twitched, looking at Ron out of the corner of his eye. Then he looked at Hermione. They had been best friends for five years, and both his friends knew what that look meant. They gave him a look back, silently asking if it was a good idea. The other three were looking at them, knowing that something was happening between them, but they couldn't tell what.

Finally, Harry was able to convince his two friends that it was a good idea, and put the plan into action the second they made it around the corner. They only had two guards, one in front and one in the back. The Ministry probably didn't think six wandless children would be enough to overpower two armed aurors.

They were wrong.

Giving a sight nod, Harry put his plan into action. Immediately, Ron slammed the back of his head into the auror behind him, knocking him onto the floor, while at the same time Hermione slammed the cuffs into the back of the head of the man in front of her.

Harry walked over and kicked the still conscious man on the temple, knocking him out as well.

"Dammit," Hermione growled from the other body, "His wand broke when he fell."

Harry reached down and picked up the wand of the other auror. Seeming to come out of her stupor faster than the other two who didn't know the plan, Luna walked over and held out her hand. "Here, I can get these cuffs off," she said smiling serenely.

Harry blinked at her, before shrugging and handing it over to her. She immediately stuck it in her mouth and tapped the cuffs on her wrists, causing them to fall off.

When they looked at her incredulously, she said, "Daddy told me that they only stop magic from the hands, but that nothing else is blocked," before skipping over to Hermione to unlock hers.

A couple seconds after the six of them were broken out of their chains and Harry had been decided to hold the wand, alarms blared through the Ministry.

"Crap," Harry muttered, before he took off running, the others following behind him.

They ran down a couple corridors, before turning a corner and nearly running straight into a group of aurors. Luckily, the aurors were just as surprised as they were, or the six of them wouldn't have been able to get back around the corner.

After running down corridors, up and down stairs, and nearly running into more aurors, all while dodging spellfire, when they somehow made it back to the Department of Mysteries.

There were still scorch marks and rubble left from the couple days before when they had fought. They had run for a while, but eventually ended up being cornered in front of the eerie archway Harry had seen the day before.

All six of them were surrounded by about two dozen aurors, with only the whispering archway behind them.

"Alright kids, come quietly, and nobody needs to get hurt," one of the aurors said, pointing his wand at them, holding off on stupefying them for the time being.

However, the guy next to him was a bit more trigger-happy, and shot a stunner at them.

Acting on instinct, Harry swung his wand and yelled, "Protego!"

While normally this wouldn't have been a problem, it should be noted that Harry was not using his own wand, and as such it was rather temperamental to its new owner. Because of this, when Harry cast the shield, instead of creating a dome of protective energy, the wand exploded in his hand.

The force of the explosion knocked all six of them back into the veil before any of the aurors could do something to stop them.

Harry reached out blindly as darkness overcame him, trying to grab one of his friends as he fell. He finally grabbed someone, pulling them close. A sudden extreme pain in his forehead caused him to nearly lose a hold of whoever he grabbed, but he just pulled the person closer and held on tighter, forcing himself not to let go.

Back in front of the veil, the auror who shot the stunner was sheepishly scratching the back of his head under the glares of his comrades. "Uhh… oops."


	2. Harry I

**I do not own Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, nor do I own Harry Potter.**

Harry I

 _Sundas, 17_ _th_ _of Last Seed_

Harry groaned, lifting his neck up as he woke up. He shifted slightly trying to get more comfortable.

"Hey, lad," a rough voice asked, "You finally awake?"

Harry shot up straight, ripping his eyes open. He immediately saw the person who spoke in front of him, a blonde haired man in blue and yellow clothing.

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there," he finished, nodding over to the rat-like man sitting next to him.

"Damn you Stormcloaks," the man barked, "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell. You there..." he said, nodding to Harry, "You two and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

Harry suddenly became aware of a weight on his shoulder, and looked towards it quickly, seeing nothing but blonde hair. He moved his head to look at her face, and nearly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Luna.

He suddenly remembered what had happened before he was knocked out, and immediately spun his head around, looking for any of his other friends. But all he saw was the two men, Luna, and another gagged man next to him.

"What's wrong, lad," the blonde man asked, stopping his conversation with the thief.

"M-my friends," he croaked out, moving his hands to rub his throat, before he realized they were chained. He nearly snorted at the irony. Out of chains just too immediately be put back in.

The man took a second to figure out what he meant, before his face softened with sympathy. "Sorry, lad, but the lady next to you is the only person other than the Stormcloaks and the thief the Empire found. Even if they were there, we're far away from where we were captured now."

Harry slumped in his seat, defeated. The thief, trying to break the awkward silence, nodded at the gagged man, "And what's wrong with him, huh?"

"Watch your tongue," the blonde man growled, "You're speaking to Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king!"

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you…" the thief trailed off, "Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovengarde awaits," the blonde man declared solemnly.

"No, this isn't happening, this can't be happening," the thief whimpered.

Harry felt a shift on his shoulder, distracting him. He turned to look at Luna, only to find himself staring into large silver eyes.

"Harry," she murmured, "where are we?"

He stared at her for a couple seconds, before sighing and shaking his head. "I don't know, Luna. I don't know."

These people across from him were talking about people and places he had never heard of before. Sure, it may be muggle terms he hadn't heard of due to his time in Hogwarts, but considering as far as he knew muggles had stopped using horse and wagons a long time ago, he had no idea where they could be. The fact that magic was involved meant they could be _anywhere_.

But it seemed enough for Luna, because she just nodded her head and laid it back on his shoulder, shifting to get more comfortable.

Harry looked up as he saw a shadow pass over him, causing him to look at the walls of a city, one that they looked like they were entering.

As the carriages entered the city he heard someone yell, "General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"

He felt Luna tense next to him as he heard the reply, "Good. Let's get this over with."

"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me," the thief wined.

The blonde man looked out of the cart. "Look at him," he muttered disdainfully, "General Tullius, the Military Governor. And it looks like the _Thalmor_ are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this." Harry looked over to where the man was looking, and saw golden skinned people in robes standing off to the side.

He paused for a moment before continuing, "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

They sat in silence as the carts drove through town. He could hear and see people pointing and whispering at them. Children were ushered inside. Doors were closed. Finally, the driver said, "Whoa!" making the carriage stop.

They seemed to be at the center of the city (Helgen, he believed), and an older man in armor walked past the carts. "Get these prisoners out of the carts! Move it!" Harry recognized the voice as the one that had answered to 'General Tullius' earlier.

"Why are we stopping?" the thief asked fearfully.

"Why do you think," the blonde man muttered, standing up, "End of the line. Come on. Best not keep the gods waiting for us."

"No! Wait, we're not rebels!"

"Face your death with some courage, thief!" the blonde man barked.

Harry tensed. Sure, from what he had heard, it sounded like they were going to their deaths, but now that someone actually said it out loud, it all felt so much more _real_.

"You've got to tell them," The thief yelled frantically, "We weren't with you. This is a mistake!"

"Step toward the block when we call your name," an armored woman shouted. "One at a time."

"Empire loves their damn lists," the blonde man muttered.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm," the man besides the woman said. The gagged man besides Harry walked out of the carriage.

"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric!"

"Ralof of Riverwood." The blonde man—Ralof—walked out next.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"No!" the thief yelled. "I'm not a rebel, you can't do this!" he pushed past the soldiers and ran down the road they came from.

"Halt!" the woman yelled after him.

"You're not going to kill me!" Lokir yelled behind him.

"Archers!" the woman yelled. Immediately, the one of the soldiers on a rooftop shot an arrow at him, going straight through his throat and killing him. Harry felt Luna tense behind him. He released a shuddering breath. He had seen Cedric killed before, but that death felt different. It wasn't a person he knew, or even liked, really, but he had at least expected it to hurt more than it had. "Anyone else feel like running?" the woman asked, turning to glare at the other prisoners.

"Wait. You two, step forward." The soldier next to the woman said. "Who are you?"

Harry felt Luna stand beside him and managed to get out, "Harry." He motioned to Luna. "Luna." He didn't necessarily like these people, but not cooperating would probably get them both killed.

"Captain," the man asked, "What should we do, they're not on the list."

"Forget the list," she said, uncaring, "They go to the block."

"Captain!" the man exclaimed incredulously, "Their children! They don't even look old enough to enlist!"

In any other situation Harry would probably argue that he _wasn't_ just a child, but he was currently banking on his age helping them survive, so he held his tongue.

"They. Go. To. The. Block." The captain grit out.

"By your orders, captain," the man muttered angrily. He then looked at them sympathetically. "I don't know how you got caught up in this, but I'm sorry. Follow the others, prisoners."

They walked toward the other prisoners. Before they knew it, the two of them were pushed to the front of the crowd of blue men and women, right next to Ralof. He glanced at them and gave them a grim smile. "May the gods watch over you, friends," he murmured to them.

Harry gave him a slight smile. At least they weren't completely alone. Harry glanced down at Luna. He hoped he was killed first. The fear in her eyes was nearly killing him now. He didn't want to think about the torture that would be watching her die.

"Ulfric Stormcloak," a man whose voice he recognized as 'General Tullius' said gruffly, "Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."

Ulfric grunted something in reply, but what he said was lost on Harry.

"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!"

Suddenly a loud noise echoed around the city, causing Harry to tense. He knew that sound. How could he forget? That was a dragon's roar.

"What was that?" someone asked.

"It was nothing," General Tullius said. "Carry on."

"Yes General Tullius," the Captain said, "Give them their last rights."

"As we commend your souls to Aetherius," a woman in a yellow robe chanted, "blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved..."

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with," a red haired man cut her off, walking forward.

The robed woman scowled, muttering, "As you wish."

"Come on," the man said, laying down on the ground, resting his head on the protruding stone, "I haven't got all morning. My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials," he continued as a tall person dressed in black raised a massive battle axe, "Can you say the same?"

With those final words, the headsman brought the axe down, ending the man's life.

Harry wanted to look away, he really did. But he forced himself to watch as the man's head fell into a basket. He released a shuddering breath he didn't realize he was holding. That was surprisingly more intense then he thought it would be, and much more ominous than he would have believed.

"You Imperial bastards!"

"Justice!"

"Death to the Stormcloaks!"

"As fearless in death, as he was in life," Ralof muttered mournfully from beside Harry.

"Next, the Breton in the rags!" the Captain barked, looking at Harry. Just to make sure, he glanced down at himself, and saw that while he was in only the dress shirt and pants of his Hogwarts uniform, it was so dirty and torn it may as well have been rags. He decided to ignore the 'Breton' remark, not sure what it meant. For all he knew, it could have been an insult.

Then, he heard the dragon's roar again. He tensed, because if anything, the dragon sounded closer.

"There it is again!" the man from before exclaimed, "Did you hear that?"

"Dragon," Harry muttered too quietly for anyone but Luna and Ralof to hear. Ralof turned his head to him, confused, while Luna just looked at him with concerned and fearful eyes. With a jolt, he realized that the fear wasn't about the dragon, but for _him_. It sent a bit of happiness through him, but before he could think on it the captain spoke again.

"I said," she growled out, looking pointedly at Harry, "Next prisoner."

"To the block prisoner, nice and easy,"

Harry took a shuddering breath, walking forward slowly. When he got to the block he kneeled down where the dead man had been before he was pushed off. He stared at the decapitated head in the basket for a second, before turning away, looking at Luna's face one more time. If nothing else, he would see his friend one more time.

Before he could, however, he felt a boot on his back, shoving him down onto the block. His head was facing away from the crowd, and he couldn't turn it to see her anymore. He felt more sadness at that than he thought he would.

 _Well,_ Harry thought, as he looked up at the headsman, a tower behind the person, _I had a good run. Not the best, but probably better than I could have hoped for. This is the end, I guess,_ he mused bitterly, staring at the headsman as he raised up his axe. _No Potter luck to save me this time. Anyone who might try to help me is in chains, and I'm about five seconds away from getting beheaded. If I try to run, I'd get shot down instantly. I'd need some type of distraction before making a break for it. Heh, maybe the dragon will attack_. He snorted inwardly at the thought. That would never happen.

Of course, if there was one thing that was consistent, it was the universe trying to prove him wrong. Because right as the headsman was about to let the axe fall, Harry saw a massive shape fall from the sky, landing on top of the tower with enough force to knock the headsman to the ground, his axe imbedding itself in the ground a centimeter away from his face.

"What in Oblivion is that!?" Harry heard someone yell from behind him as he tried to get up. The position he was in was making hard to do much.

Suddenly, the dragon roared something to the heavens. The sky instantly changed to dark orange and balls of fire rained from the sky. The force of the dragon's roar was enough to knock Harry over, getting him into a much more manageable position.

"Don't just stand there," he heard General Tullius yell, "Kill the thing! Guards, get the townspeople to safety!"

He suddenly felt someone grab his arm and pull him up. He looked towards the person to see Luna's wide eyed and fearful face staring back at him.

"Hey!" Ralof yelled, getting both of their attention, "Lad! Girl! Come on! The gods won't give us another chance!"

Harry instantly grabbed Luna's arm and pulled her with him as he ran after Ralof. The two of them barely managed to keep up with Ralof, and it was only years of experience with life threatening situations that allowed Harry to keep them from getting crushed or burned by falling meteors.

Harry shuddered as he saw a man get hit by a meteor out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to help as much as he could, but he wanted to get his friend safe more, so he followed Ralof.

"In here!" Ralof yelled, opening the door to a tower. They ran past him as he closed the door, just in time to stop a blast of fire from incinerating them.

Harry sat Luna down on the ground to rest as he looked at the other wounded Stormcloaks in the tower. Compared to them, they had gotten safe relatively unscathed, only Harry himself getting a small cut on his cheek from a piece of debris.

"Jarl Ulfric!" he heard Ralof yell, causing Harry to look up at him talking to Ulfric. "What is that thing? Could the legends be true?"

"Legends don't burn down villages," he heard Ulfric speak for the first time, "We need to move. Now!"

He grabbed Luna and ran up the stairs as the tower shook. He glanced back to see Ralof a bit behind him.

He had almost made it to the top when he saw another Stormcloak standing in front of some rubble. "We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way," he said, before suddenly the tower shook again and a part of the wall collapsed right in front of them, burying the soldier.

Harry saw the dragon's muzzle enter the tower as the dragon then seemed to shout, "Yol… Toor… Shul!" Instantly after it finished, flames blasted from its mouth, making the rocks melt.

Harry saw the dragon's mouth leave, and risked a chance look outside, only to see the Dragon flying in another direction.

"Hey!" He heard from Ralof, causing him to spin around and realize that some more rubble had fallen between the two of them and Ralof. "There should be and inn on the other side of the wall! If there is, jump through and keep going! Go! We'll follow when we can!"

Harry looked out the hole in the wall, and before he could think about whether or not it was a good idea, he grabbed Luna's arm and jumped.

The second they landed, the floor fell beneath them, dropping them onto the first floor of the inn. Harry picked himself up first, then checked Luna to see if she was alright, only to see her standing next to him, relatively fine.

"Come on," he said to her, running out of the burning building. He glanced behind to make sure she was following him, when he heard the soldier from the carts.

"Haming, you need to get over here," he heard the soldier yell, "Now!"

Harry looked over to where the voice was coming from, seeing him pulling a child out of a gout of fire. "Torolf!" he yelled as the Dragon descended, grabbing a person besides him. "Gods… Everyone, get back!"

"Yol… Toor… Shul!" the dragon roared, blasting fire where the soldier was a second ago.

The soldier suddenly noticed the two, staring at them for a second before saying, "Still alive, prisoners? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way. Gunnar," he yelled, turning his head towards the old man and the boy besides him, "you take care of the boy. I have to find general Tullius and join the defense."

"Gods guide you, Hadvar!" the old man replied.

"Follow me, prisoners!" he yelled.

While Harry didn't particularly like being called prisoner, he knew better than to argue at the time. He chased after the soldier—Hadvar—for a while. They ran through the burning city as they tried to dodge the dragon—a feat easier said than done, considering the amount of times they were nearly burned, crushed, or even impaled—before Hadvar finally came to a stop next to the old man Hadvar was looking for.

"General Tullius, sir!" he exclaimed.

"Hadvar!" Tullius said grimly, "Into the keep, we're leaving."

"But sir, what about the city?"

"The city's already beyond saving, and we haven't been able to do a damned thing to harm that dragon! I'd rather save as many men as we can by retreating than lose everyone because we were too stubborn to continue fighting an impossible battle. Now, move!"

"Yes, sir!" Hadvar exclaimed, giving a quick salute before running past a wall, leaving Harry and Luna no choice but to follow.

"Come on, we need to get inside!" he exclaimed, opening the door and ushering them into a tower they came to.

The door closed behind them, and suddenly the sounds of the battle behind them were cut off due to the thick door, and they were plunged into an eerie silence.

"Come here," Hadvar said, motioning over, "Let me get those bindings off."

After he cut the bindings off the two of them, he walked over to a chest at the foot of one of the beds. "What weapon do either of you two use?" he asked.

"Er," Harry said, not sure how to answer that, or why he would think they had used weapons, "I used a sword, once."

Hadvar looked back at them, before asking, "You know how to use one then?"

"Um, no," Harry muttered, embarrassed, "It was the only thing I had, and I managed to get lucky and kill it in one shot."

Hadvar sighed, before walking over to a rack off to the side and grabbing a sword. "Here you go," he said handing it hilt first to Harry. It was heavier than he would have thought.

"Watch me," Hadvar said, pulling out his own sword, "Get into the positions you see me in, and copy my movements."

He widened his stance a little, holding the sword with one hand. When he saw Harry copy his pose, he thrust his blade forward. "Thrust," he said. He then pulled the blade back, before slashing it from the upper left to lower right. "Slash." He then pulled the blade in front of himself and grabbed it with both hands, turning it sideways and locking his arms. "Block."

He looked at Harry for a moment, before nodding. "That's good enough for the basics, so at least if we get into a fight you can protect yourself. If worst comes to worst, just hack and slash until you kill your enemy."

"K-kill?" Harry asked, wide eyed and slightly green.

Hadvar grimaced, before saying, "Yes. We probably won't have to, but if there are Stormcloaks in here, you never know how they might react to us. Just remember, it's either you or them, and they probably wouldn't hesitate to kill you. Besides, if that dragon attacks again, you'll want to be able to defend yourself."

Harry pursed his lips, but nodded resolutely. He looked at Luna, who was skipping after Hadvar looking for a weapon. He wouldn't let another person die because he wasn't ready. He would try not to kill, but if he had to, he would kill to protect Luna.

It took another couple of minutes to find Luna a weapon, before she decided on a small iron dagger. She didn't have much of a choice, considering that she couldn't actually lift anything else. Harry had asked about putting on the armor he could see hanging up, but Hadvar had shot down the idea. The armor was too large for their smaller frames, and would be more of a hindrance than a help.

They had walked down the hall for a bit, Hadvar in the lead with Luna and Harry behind him. "Hey," Hadvar whispered at the end of the hall, in front of a metal gate. "Stormcloaks, maybe we can reason with them."

He walked up, opening the gate with his hands up, saying calmly, "Hold up, we don't want to-"

He was cut off when the two Stormcloaks charged at him, forcing him to hold up his shield and pull out his sword to block.

He ducked behind his shield as the first one slammed his war axe on the shield, before quickly backpedaling which allowed him to just barely dodge the other one's war hammer. He quickly charged forward and stabbed at the guy with the axe, who jumped back and swung the axe at Hadvar, making him twist his hand to block it with his sword.

"To your left!" Luna yelled at him, making him turn his head left and barely pull his shield up in time to block the Warhammer from crushing his skull.

Harry hesitated, worried about getting involved. He knew he was inexperienced and would probably just make things worse, but he didn't want to just stand aside doing _nothing_.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the choice was made for him when he saw the man with the axe raise it above his head to prepare a swing at Hadvar, who was distracted by the woman with the Warhammer. He ran forward, and thrusted his sword at the man before he could finish the attack. The man had looked at him and tried to block the sword, but was too late. The sword slid between the man's ribs, slowing slightly at his armor, but otherwise going into his body with no problem. He couldn't see the man's expression under his mask, but Harry felt the man was surprised. The man choked once, before crumpling to the ground.

Harry let out a shuddering breath, pulling the blade from its gruesome sheath. He held it up, and stared at the blood running down the sword. It slid down, pooling at the hilt, before dripping onto his hand. _It's warm,_ he mused, numb to Hadvar and the other Stormcloak battling behind him.

He tried to take another breath, but halfway through he choked and kneeled over, vomiting. He didn't know when he realized it, but he could feel someone lightly rubbing his back. He lifted his head up, staring at Luna's concerned face. He looked away, not wanting to see her disgust at him killing, but she forced his head back towards her. He stared at her blankly for a couple seconds, before she pulled him into a hug. He hugged her tighter, burying his head into her shoulder.

"It's okay, kid," Hadvar said behind him. He looked up at him, suddenly feeling tears on his cheeks. Hadvar was looking at him with a combination of sympathy and reassurance.

"Was that your first kill?" he asked, nodding towards the dead Stormcloak. Harry nodded mutely.

"It'll get easier. Now, clean yourself off and follow me. We need to keep moving."

Harry blushed slightly, realizing that he was probably quite the sight, covered in tears and vomit. He took a deep breath and wiped his face off on his sleeve. He grabbed his sword from where it had fallen and stood up, pulling Luna with him.

"Thanks," he said hoarsely to Luna. She smiled at him and nodded.

They walked over to Hadvar, to whom Harry nodded to in thanks. There wasn't much reassurance, no saying everything was fine or that it wouldn't happen again. Just 'It'll get easier', which he felt helped more than when Dumbledore talked to him about killing Quirrel.

"Come on, stay behind me," Hadvar said.

They followed him down into a storeroom that had two dead Imperial soldiers and one dead Stormcloak in it. "Over here," Hadvar muttered, grabbing a knapsack laying off to the side and opened a barrel. He began pulling small vials out of the barrel, each of different colors.

"Here," he said, handing the bag to Luna, "Put that on. It's full of potions. Red heals wounds, green gets rid of fatigue, and blue restores magicka."

Harry and Luna started at that word. "Magicka?" Harry asked, wondering at the similar wording to magic.

"Aye. Magicka is what the mages use to cast spells and the like." He shrugged slightly, "I personally don't care much for magic, but to each his own, I suppose."

It took Harry a moment to come out of his shock at the fact that this person, (and people, if this was a normal storeroom), who he was sure was a muggle, knew about magic, before he decided it wasn't important at the moment. He needed to get out of this place alive, and if he had potions to help him he wouldn't complain.

They continued on for a bit, when they started going down steps, hearing the sounds of battle in front of them.

"Torture chamber," Hadvar spat, not looking at Harry and Luna's mortified faces, "Gods, I hate these places."

They finally got down, only to come across a hooded man blasting lightning from his fingers. Both Harry and Luna's eyes went wide in surprise at the blatant display of wandless magic, before the man's head suddenly flew back with an axe buried in his skull.

They entered the room cautiously, before they were all stopped short. "Ralof!" Harry yelled in relief, at the same time Hadvar yelled angrily, "Ralof, you dammed traitor!"

"Hadvar! Imperial dog!" Ralof yelled back.

The two of them charged each other, and were about to attack when Harry threw out his arms and yelled, "Stop!"

The two men were thrown away from each other by an invisible force, Ralof flying into the side of a large cage, while Hadvar was thrown at the wall next to a caged off backroom.

The two groaned, holding their heads while they gradually pushed themselves up off the ground were they fell. "Just, stop fighting for one damn minute and think!" Harry yelled at them. "There is a bloody dragon attacking the city above us, and right now the only things you people can think about is your petty grudge against the other!" this point was reinforced by the ground shaking, "Now, we can either work together to survive and get the bloody hell out of here, or we can decide to kill each other and no one will make it out. Choose."

The two glanced at each other, before they muttered their acceptance. "Good. Now, let's go."

"Hey, lad," Ralof said, "catch." He threw a pack at Harry, who just barely managed to catch it. "Not sure what's in there, but anything would help right now, so put it on and let's go."

Harry nodded, shouldering the pack. He hadn't expected it to be so heavy, considering how easily Ralof threw it, but he was starting to realize how weak he was compared to these people.

As they were walking, Hadvar walked up to him. "I didn't know you could use magic," he said.

Harry tensed for a second before deciding on what to say, "I can, I'm just not very good at it without a wand." Best not to say that was accidental.

When Hadvar looked confused, Luna decided to clarify. "A wand is a type of focus for magic, to make it easier to cast."

Hadvar seemed to take that as an answer, but Harry made a mental note to ask Luna about that later. He wasn't actually sure if that was the truth or a lie, and he intended to find out.

They had been walking for a while through the tunnels beneath Helgen, with Hadvar at the front and Ralof at the back, with Harry and Luna between to keep as much space between the two soldiers as possible. Suddenly, they heard and explosion and a scream, before the tunnel rumbled stronger than before and a loud crash was heard. The four of them shared a look, before taking off towards the source of the scream.

They came out into what looked like it was once a large open room, but was now half buried under a cave in. On the other side of the room, what remained of a fire was slowly dying.

"Looks like there was a cave in," Hadvar murmured. "Alright, split up and see if there's a way out through here."

"Oh, and why should we listen to you, faithless Imperial?" Ralof spat.

"You have any other ideas, traitor?" he barked back.

Ralof scowled, but walked away to find a way out. Harry and Luna shared an exasperated glance, before following, and talking care not to step on the pin cushion that was once an Imperial.

* * *

"Wait, I think I hear something. Quick! Get down, I think it's coming back!" Hadvar whisper-shouted, ducking behind a rock, with Harry, Ralof and Luna following.

They could hear the dragon roar as it passed over head, but made no move to attack them. Even so, they waited until it was well out of sight to get up.

"Okay, I think it's gone," Ralof muttered, standing up.

"Good, I don't think we'd survive if it attacked us again," Harry sighed.

Luna had managed to find a tunnel out of the room, letting them get out. After that, it was a simple matter of killing several giant spiders (well, simple for Ralof and Hadvar. Harry and Luna didn't do much besides dodge when the spiders shot poison at them), trying not to fall into the river, and sneak past a sleeping bear in order to get out of the cave.

"Well, you two are welcome to come with me to Riverwood," Hadvar said to Harry and Luna. "Uncle Alvor might not be able to spare any room, but I'm sure he would spare some money for you to get a room at the inn."

Luna quickly put a hand over Harry's mouth. "Thank you, that would be lovely."

Harry sent her a light glare, before shaking his head and following Hadvar and Luna as they walked down the path.

It took a couple seconds for them to realize they were not alone on the path.

"Ralof, what are you still following us for? Aren't you going to Windhelm?" Hadvar asked, casually. "We didn't grow on you _that_ much did we?"

"Of course not," he growled back, "I'm off to visit my sister, Gerder. She lives in Riverwood too, remember."

"Of course, I was just wondering if you were putting your rebellion before your family."

Ralof glared back at him.

Break

Harry yawned. They had been walking along the road to Riverwood for a couple hours now, and he wasn't sure how much longer the two soldiers planned to walk. Hadvar had said that it was only a two day walk from Helgen to Riverwood, so they would probably stop sometime soon.

He really hoped they would stop soon. His feet were blistering and his legs felt like they were going to collapse at any moment. It didn't help that Luna had been staring off at nothing the entire time, making him bored as well. Any attempt to try and make small talk had failed, but even the fact that _Harry Potter_ was trying to make small talk was enough to show how bad it was.

Harry watched as the sun began to set. The light reflected off of the shinier rocks, making it quite beautiful. The reflecting light was probably the only thing that saved them from what happened next, though.

Harry noticed something shine out of the corner of his eye, and only through his years of training as a Quidditch Seeker that he managed to whip his arm out and catch whatever it was.

Time froze as Harry registered what he was holding as he saw the light reflect off of the steel tip of the arrow. The arrow that had nearly killed Ralof.

Suddenly time came back into focus as a man and a woman came barreling out of the woods from the direction the arrow came, roaring a war cry.

"Bandits!" Hadvar yelled, as Ralof charged back at the bandits, war axe raised high.

Harry dropped his pack to the ground and drew his sword, before he got in front of Luna who had her dagger in hand.

The two bandits ran towards Ralof and Hadvar, obviously dismissing them as less of a threat. Strangely, instead of feeling relieved they chose another target, Harry felt a bit insulted. That was before he saw the arrow fly at him, which he only slashed out of the air with his sword due to his reflexes.

Another arrow came at him, causing him to slash it out of the air again. And another. Harry glanced over to see how Hadvar and Ralof were doing. A mistake he didn't realize until an arrow sliced open the back of his hand and made him drop the sword.

He fell to the ground just as another arrow flew over his head. The bandit had decided to walk out of the woods, a cocky smirk on his face. The archer walked forward slowly, shooting arrow after arrow that Harry would dodge by less and less each time. Finally, the archer was only a few feet away, when he suddenly cried out in pain.

Harry and the archer both spun in surprise to see Luna standing behind the archer with a bloody knife. Without wasting another moment, she stabbed him in the gut, causing him to bend over. Snapping out of his shock, Harry ran forward and grabbed one of the arrows of the ground, stabbing it in the back of his neck as the man reached for his own dagger, causing it to clatter to the ground, with the archer soon after.

Harry felt his stomach squirm at killing another man, but pushed the bile down. He was protecting Luna, and the man attacked first. He let out a shuddering breath.

 _What do you know,_ Harry mused sardonically, _He was right, it does get easier._

"You okay, Luna?" he asked, looking her over for any injuries. She nodded, and he was about to ask if she needed anything when he heard a yell from behind him. He spun around, and saw that Ralof had been stabbed in the arm, forcing him to switch hands.

"Right, battle," he muttered under his breath. He glanced down and picked up the steel dagger the man had dropped.

He ran up behind the man fighting Ralof, figuring he needed the most help. The man was wearing a horned helmet and rusted iron armor, which protected most of his back and head from the dagger. But Harry noticed that his neck was relatively unprotected, so he decided to stab him in the back of the neck like he did the archer.

However, right before he could stab him, the man moved slightly, causing Harry to miss and slam the dagger into the man's protected shoulder. The man spun around, and swung his mace around to knock off Harry's head.

Harry managed to duck just quickly enough for the attack to go over his head. The man never got a second attack, though, because in the next second his head was bouncing on the ground.

Ralof gave him a savage grin, before going over to help Hadvar, whose shield was dangling broken from his arm after having been cut off by the woman's battle axe. She didn't last much longer after that, being cut down by the combined assault of two trained soldiers.

Harry forced down the bile rising in his throat at the sight of the dead bodies on the ground, two of which he helped kill.

"Come on," Ralof said motioning towards the woods, "The bandits probably set up a camp a little ways off the road."

He walked over to the body of the archer and picked up the bow and quiver. He walked over and handed it to Luna. "Here you go, girl. Maybe you can put these to good use."

Luna looked slightly disturbed at using a dead man's weapon, but nodded anyway. Suddenly, she perked up like she was remembering something. She quickly pulled off her bag and reached inside, pulling out two red potions. "For your arm," she said, nodding. She then walked over and handed the other one to Harry.

Harry took it carefully, not wanting to drop it, and took a deep breath to prepare himself before drinking it. He nearly choked on it when he realized that it _didn't_ actually taste bad. It tasted something like a combination of eggs and bread. He looked at his hand and watched as the skin knit together.

"Ugh," Ralof muttered as he stared at his healing wound, "I'm going to feel that in the morning."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. Why would he feel something that was already healed?

"A lot of potions cause the body to use up a lot of energy to help the potion work," Hadvar said, "but you normally don't feel it for a couple hours. We'd better hope those bandits left a lot of food at their camp, or you aren't going to be able to do anything tomorrow. Ralof even less," he finished humorously.

Of course. There was always a catch.

"Ah-hah!" they heard Ralof yell from the forest.

Harry grabbed his pack and sword from where he dropped them and followed the direction Ralof went in. He found him in a small clearing. A small fire with a cooking pot was set up in the middle of the clearing, three bedrolls surrounding it. A large chest was off to the side, with Ralof digging around in it.

He eventually came out with several sacks of gold and a couple bottles of some kind of alcohol.

"Hah!" Ralof barked, a wild grin on his face, "These bastards had some good mead!"

"What kind?" Hadvar asked, sitting down on one of the bedrolls.

Ralof threw a bottle to all three of them. Harry nearly dropped his and Luna had to drop her bow to catch hers. "Black-Briar mead! They must have attacked a shipment on its way to Whiterun! There has to be at least three crates in here!"

Harry, who already didn't really like the idea of using a dead person's camp, asked, "Are you sure I'm old enough to drink this?"

"HAH!" Ralof yelled, making Harry and Luna jump, "Old enough!? I was thirteen summers when I had my first glass o' mead. Hadvar over here even younger."

Harry grimaced, but pulled the drink up to his mouth and took a sip. Immediately he choked, spitting it out of his mouth.

Hadvar snorted off to the side, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually."

"You'd better!" Ralof grinned, taking another swig of his mead. "You'll be drinking them by the barrel when you get to celebrating with the rest of us in Riverwood! 'Harry the Keen'! Knocks arrows out of the air, and bane to archers everywhere!"

Harry smiled despite himself. There was something to be said about getting drunk around a campfire with friends.

 _Friends_. It was hard to imagine, but after less than a day with these two, he would already count them as friends. It only took nearly getting roasted alive by a dragon to achieve.

"Eat up," Hadvar said, handing the two of them some kind of grilled bird and an apple. Harry, remembering Hadvar's warning, ate quickly, not holding back like he normally would.

"You two get some sleep now," Hadvar said, taking a mouthful of mead before pointing to Ralof, "This drunk'll get the first watch, and I'll make sure to wake you up for the morning watch."

Harry nodded, laying down in one of the bedrolls. He didn't necessarily like needing to take watches, but with a dragon about they would need it. The weapons they have probably wouldn't do shit to a dragon's hide, and he had no idea how to use his magic without a wand.

He rolled over and was about to go to sleep when he froze. He could feel something pressing into his leg where his pocket was. He sat up and quickly reached into his pocket.

The first thing he pulled out was the golden-red feather that Fawkes had dropped. He stared at it for a moment, watching the firelight bounce off of it. For the first time since his wand had been snapped, he felt _magic_. Sure, he had felt a slight pull when he had used some accidental magic under Helgen, but his own magic was something he had always felt, even if he didn't realize it. When his wand had been snapped it had felt like his magic had been suppressed, somehow, leaving an empty feeling in his soul.

But now, now his magic _roared_ to the forefront of his mind. He went numb as he stared at it, feeling so much more in tune with his magic than he ever had before.

After a moment of staring he placed the feather carefully back into his pocket, absently noting the feeling hadn't gone away. Next he pulled out some sort of fabric, which to his surprise didn't seem to be able to fit in his pocket. A bit more pulling, and he found himself looking at the full sized version of an achingly familiar slivery cloak.

Placing it aside while wondering how Remus had managed to get _that_ into his pocket without noticing. He then pulled out two folded up pieces of parchment from his pocket. The first he unfolded, revealing the Marauder's Map. He moved it away, opening the other parchment before he activated it to reveal a letter.

 _Hey, Prongslet!_

 _Sorry I couldn't be there to say goodbye, but Remus stuck me to a chair and stole my wand. But before we get to that, in case you haven't noticed we shrunk your invisibility cloak to put in your pocket. Also, when you activate the map, you'll notice we gave it an upgrade. Moony will tell you about that lower down. Listen, I'm not the best at all this emotional mumbo jumbo, but I do care for you, Harry. We haven't spent all that much time together, either because of Hogwarts or the Ministry, but you've become like the son I've never had. Just in case we never see each other again, I wanted to say I love you, Harry, you were my child._

 _Your Dogfather,_

 _Sirius._

Harry wiped his eyes, breathing in deeply. He had always been afraid Sirius might not actually care for him, but that seemed to have been disproved by the letter. He took another deep breath before reading the next part.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I know I haven't always been there for you, and have royally screwed up at lot of things in your life. But I want you to know that none of it was out of a want to hurt you. You're basically my nephew, and I will_ always _help and care for you. As such, Sirius and I have given you some things to help you break out of Azkaban. You've probably already found your invisibility cloak, but we've also given you the Marauder's Map. While you might be wondering how that will help, we've changed the charms on it to give it a momentous upgrade. Instead of Hogwarts, it will now show a relatively detailed map of whatever country you're in. Also, there is now a Qup rune in the upper corner of the map, which looks like a triangle with a line through it. Touching it will cause the map to change to the floor plan of the building or area you are currently in. It won't show people anymore, we had to remove that or the map would have overloaded. Anyway, our time together was great, and if we never see each other again, I love you, and goodbye._

 _-Remus_

 _P.S. - You are the owl._

Harry took a couple seconds to control himself as he cried. Once he had control of himself again, he reread the letter, making sure he didn't miss anything. He didn't understand the owl part, but he figured that the new map would probably be his best bet to figuring out where he was.

He picked the map back up and muttered "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Ink suddenly appeared on the map, saying:

 _Messr Padfoot gives his most warmest of welcomes to Messr Prongslet!_

 _Messr Moony would like to introduce Messr Prongslet to the new and improved, Marauder's Map 2!_

The words then went away, and Harry watched as black lines drew across the parchment, turning and twisting seemingly randomly, before it finally finished, showing something Harry didn't expect.

At the very top of the map of a country he had never even heard of, let alone seen on a map, was the word; SKYRIM.

Harry looked around the map, trying to find _something_ that could tell him where this country was, but the only thing outside the map were the words Hammerfell, Morrowind, Cyrodil, and High Rock.

He then looked inside, seeing towns and cities he had never heard of in Britain, only recently had he learned them, like Windhelm and Riverwood. Then, depicted in golden ink, was a snowy owl, halfway between Riverwood and a crossed out Helgen.

Harry let out another heavy breath and fell back, looking up at the stars for the first time. They were completely different from the ones he had spent five years learning, and while that may not have been the biggest deal, it could only prove one thing.

He had no fucking clue where the hell he was.

* * *

 **Now, some of you may be wondering what is going on, where the other four who fell through the veil are, and whether or not Harry is the dragon born. Now, since the title made it obvious, you should know the fate of the other four. Something I should say, is that this will mostly be written through the eyes of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. To see _where_ exactly the others showed up at, that's something you'll just have to wait to see.**

 **Anyway, stay insane, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	3. Ron I

Ron I

 _Tirdas, 19_ _th_ _of Last Seed_

Ron wasn't entirely sure how he had gotten into the situation he was in, but he couldn't exactly complain. He and Neville had woken up in the middle of a forest, completely lost and with nothing but the rags on their backs. The two had wandered aimlessly for well over a day before they found themselves across a canyon from a settlement.

After crossing the bridge to get there, a town they later learned was named Dragon Bridge, they had ended up being sent to the Four Shields Tavern. Faida, the innkeeper, had been generous enough to allow them to stay at the Tavern for a bit, as long as they would pay her back later.

After that, they had scrambled around to try and find a job to pay for their stay. Neville happened to get lucky, as the local mill was in desperate need of an extra pair of hands. While he didn't know the whole story, apparently the owner's wife and brother happened to have run from the town to who knows where, and now the owner needed someone to work on the lumber mill while he sulked. That's what he understood, anyway.

It apparently paid five Septims (what the small gold coins were called) per tree sawed, and two per log chopped. So Neville would be able to pay for his own stay and Ron's, if it weren't for one problem.

They had _nothing._

They needed to pay for food every day, which already knocked them down, but with needing new clothes and anything else they may need to buy, they were trampled underfoot as well.

Honestly, with years of experience being Harry's friend, he had expected it to be worse.

Right now, Ron had been walking around the town for most of the day, searching for some way to get money. It was harder than he had actually expected, especially since the entire town was completely _muggle._

He wasn't used to not being able to use magic to do things, or even seeing people do things without magic. Wizards seemed to do everything from fighting to working to even simply throwing away trash with magic, and until now Ron hadn't actually been able to appreciate magic as much as he should have. Though, he had to admit, he had gained a new amazement for how much muggles got done without magic.

He had asked everyone if there was something he could do as a job, or even just some menial task that they might pay him for. Everyone rejected, whether because of his lack of experience or otherwise, he couldn't get any work. Not even the sulking lumber mill owner would give him a job.

Ron sat next to Neville in the tavern, eating less than he ever had at Hogwarts or home for dinner. Neville was sitting besides him at their table, telling him about his work. He apparently had to go out into the forest to cut down trees for the mill. It was more dangerous than it seemed, Neville had said.

"It's not just as straight forward as go out into the woods and cut down a tree. Hell, that's not even as simple as it sounds. But while I'm out there, I have to be prepared to be attacked by anything. Wolves, for the most part. I've only seen two so far, though." He shuddered, "first time I killed one, I probably would've been sick, if not for the other wolf attacking me. Apparently, there might occasionally be something called a frostbite spider, which are like arcomantula, but with the ability to spit venom across long distances." Neville smirked a bit a Ron's horror stricken face before continuing, "There is also a chance of running into some weird people called 'the Foresworn', and even the rare chance of running into a vampire!"

"A vampire?!" Ron gaped at him incredulously.

"Yeah, but they're rare around here. Apparently they are more common in some place called 'Hjaalmarch' to the East."

Ron leaned back as he tried to take that in. Actual vampires. He hadn't expected that kind of danger. Suddenly he was a lot more grateful they had managed to get to Dragon Bridge safely.

"Varnius!" He heard Fadia yell from the counter. "What news do you have from Solitude?"

A man walked up to the counter, sighing, "Not good, I'm afraid. At most, all we'll get are a couple extra soldiers. At worst, nothing."

"Damn," Fadia sighed, "Well, you went all that way, so we may as well get you something. Here, let me get you a bottle of spiced wine, on the house."

Ron looked at Neville and said, "I'm going to go see what they're talking about."

He got up and walked over to the bar and sat down before asking, "So, what was that?"

She turned to Ron and sighed, "We've been having trouble, recently. Lots of locals have heard strange sounds coming from Wolfskull cave up north of the town. We've been trying to get the capital to send someone down to check up on it, but so far, no luck."

Ron thought for a moment. It didn't seem like that big of a deal to go check out a cave. The muggles were probably just overreacting. Probably.

"How about this," Ron said slowly, "I'll go check it out, and in return, I get to stay here free for a week."

He had thought that was a little much, so he was surprised when she seemed to look relieved and say, "If you find out what's wrong, I'll let you stay free of charge for the next year!"

His eyes widened in surprise, before he grinned and said, "You've got yourself a deal!"

Really, how bad could it be?

* * *

Ron grunted as he trudged through the snow. He was carrying a pack filled with enough provisions to last him three days (if he didn't eat how he normally would, that is), and a steel mace in his hands. Neville had given it to him, saying that even though he had no actual training, he needed a weapon and a mace was just a glorified beaters bat.

He grimaced as he trudged further. If the map he had was correct, he would be there soon. It apparently took a full day to get there, what with it out in the mountains.

He collapsed on a stone outcropping on the side of the road. Groaning, he pulled a half loaf of bread out of his pack. As he chewed on the half frozen morsel, he began to wonder if this was such a good idea. Even if he turned back now, he could probably just tell them he found nothing and leave it at that.

 _Crap._

He stared at his hand, now devoid of any food. He stared at it for a few seconds in shock, before he jumped up and grabbed his mace.

"Who's there?" He yelled out, spinning wildly.

All that he got in return was a creaking noise.

Suddenly, a skeleton burst out from the trees behind him. It wielded an ancient looking sword, and before he realized what he was doing, he swung his mace, splintering the upper part of the skeleton to pieces. Its legs stood there for a moment, before collapsing into a pile of bones.

Ron stood there for a moment, trying to calm his breathing. He lowered his mace, before muttering, "Bloody Hell was that?"

He probably would have stood there longer, trying to figure out if he had actually just fought a skeleton, if his nose didn't suddenly get a shallow cut in it.

Eyes widening, he spun around, seeing another skeleton standing a bit away, already reloading an arrow into its ancient bow.

Not giving it a second thought, he charged the undead, bringing the mace up with a yell and slamming it down on the skeleton's head, crushing it all the way down to its collarbone. He tensed a moment, before sighing in relief as it fell apart like its predecessor.

Ron looked around, trying to make sure there were no more skeletons waiting to ambush him. Instead, he found a barely visible path on the ground, with a small outcropping of stone next to it, a decorated wolf's skull sitting on top of it.

Blinking, he shook his head. There was no way it could be that easy. Still, he dug around in his pack for a bit before pulling out the instructions he had been given for finding the cave

Looking down at them confirmed it; that was the marker for the cave.

Deciding not to question his good luck, he picked up his pack and walked down the path.

* * *

Ron grunted as he held his mace up, blocking the zombie (because what else could it be?)'s sword. He had walked down the tunnel from the surface of the cave for about fifteen minutes so far, and had ended up coming across the zombie when it nearly cut off his head.

Scowling, he shoved the sword away from him, before stumbling backward, grimacing at his sore arms. Shaking it off (because he really couldn't focus on that now), he brought his glorified club behind him and swung it forward, shattering the zombie's sword. Grinning in triumph, he swung the mace again, preparing to break the zombie like its skeleton brethren, he nearly groaned when it caught his mace on its shield.

It shoved him back, before stiffly walking forward. Or, it would have, if its arm hadn't fallen off.

Ron stared at the arm on the ground for a moment, because _really_ , and just barely stumbled back quickly enough to avoid the other arm trying to grab him.

Regaining his bearings, he tensed before swinging the mace once more with a grunt, hitting its middle and causing it to break in half.

Grinning tiredly, he collapsed on the ground, taking in deep gulps of air.

He sat there for a moment, just staring at the broken form of the zombie. He had come, and found out there were zombies. Technically he didn't even have to go any farther. He could just turn around and tell the town that there were zombies down here and let the professionals deal with it.

But…

But, he couldn't. All his life he had been shoved behind as the sidekick, never getting to actually be the hero, and never being able to say he had really _tried_. Up until fifth year, he had never actually done anything productive.

Sure he won them the chess match in first year, but he never even made it to the end. He was blocked off with _Lockheart_ in his second year from saving his sister, and in third year he was stuck in the hospital wing. And the less said about the Triwizard the better.

The point is he was never the _hero_ , and for once he wanted to be the one to vanquish evil and save the day.

Ron looked at the zombie's (corpse?) and felt his resolve harden. Walking over to it he picked up the shield from its dismembered arm and strapped it to his own. Turning back toward the tunnel he continued on.

* * *

Crouched behind some moss hanging from the cave Ron watched two robed people preforming some sort of ritual to a body on the ground. He watched with morbid fascination as they chanted, before his eyes widened when he saw purple lights spend from their hands, being absorbed into the body.

Then he saw the body rise, stumbling around like it was drunk. Really, there was only one thing to say in this situation.

"Bloody Hell."

Both necromancers turned towards him, and before he could react lightning arced from one of them. Ron's eyes widened as he jumped away just in time to avoid the blast. He noticed a flash of purple-blue light out of the corner of his eye and nearly groaned when he realized he would have to fight another zombie.

Quickly running forward, as he figured his best option was to charge them, if he had been any faster he would have probably run straight into the wall of ice.

Looking up, he realized what the purple flash was.

"That's not a zombie," he muttered blankly, staring up at the ice giant in front of him

He quickly had to shake himself out of his staring, and stumbled to the side just in time to dodge the giant's ice arm(?).

Running around the thing, he came face to face with the necromancers. Before he could realize what he was doing, he swung his mace at them, taking off the head of the one to the right (as it seemed neither had expected him to go around the ice giant).

Ron froze for a moment, staring at the bloody stump of what was once a human head. He snapped out of it a second later when he heard what sounded like an explosion behind him, causing him to jump to the side, thinking he was about to get crushed.

While no icicle arm came down to crush him, he did dodge a lightning bolt from the remaining woman, who let out an enraged shriek.

Risking a glance back as he ran in zigzags trying to dodge her lightning, he couldn't seem to find the ice giant anywhere. That meant it was either much more stealthy than he gave it credit for, or he now knew what that explosion was. (He hoped it was the later.)

He quickly turned back, not wanting the necromancer to figure out what he was doing. He had been spending the last couple of minutes dodging the lightning bolts in random patterns. He had managed to get her to blast her own skeleton apart, and was gradually getting closer to her.

Grimacing as he practically felt the last bolt, he was caught off guard when he saw the woman pull out a dagger and charge him.

Confused on what she was doing (as she had been getting closer to hitting him), he barely managed to pull the shield up fast enough to block a slash to his throat. Shoving the shield, he managed to push her back. As she stumbled, he swung his arm around the shield, slamming into the side of her ribcage with a sickening crunch.

Shuddering as he watched her fall, he dry heaved, just barely stopping himself from losing his lunch. He looked down at the body of the necromancer and choked, seeing the amount of blood pooling around her body.

Taking a couple deep breathes, he slowly sat down. He dropped his mace, his knuckles white from how tight he was holding it. He nearly groaned in relief as he rubbed his arm. It burned something fierce, and now that the adrenaline was fading, he could barely hold it up.

Sitting down in the cave, surrounded by mutilated dead bodies, he decided he could take a break.

* * *

Ron crouched on top of a stone outcropping. He had made his way through more of the cave before eventually coming upon the massive room he was in now. It was what looked like a ruined tower, half buried in the ground, with purple lights swirling around. He could hear people chanting in the distance, calling upon spirit named Potema.

He held his breath as he slowly maneuvered himself above the necromancer below him. Standing a couple feet away from the necromancer was another zombie. The two were blocking his path, and if he wanted to get to the summoners, he needed to take care of these two.

Quietly taking a deep breath, he pushed off of the ledge and dropped, bringing his mace down on the necromancer's head before he could react. Grimacing at the mess under him, he quickly brought his mace around in the direction of the zombie, getting a lucky hit and managing to slam the axe out of its hand, ripping off the hand in the process.

Backpedaling away from the walking corpse, he held the shield in front of himself, watching warily as the zombie charged him, now disarmed. He suddenly stopped, swinging his mace and crushing the chest cavity of the zombie.

He let out a small breath and continued forward.

He tried staying low to the ground, not wanting the people to know he was there. He wasn't entirely sure he'd survive an encounter with one of them if they were ready. Not only could they do magic- _wandless_ magic- when he couldn't, but they could also summon anyone he killed to fight for them again.

He crouched, leaning around a stone pillar. He had made it to the first staircase of the main tower, and there were two people up at the top.

He took a calming breath, before silently charging them. There was no way he would be able to make it to the top without getting noticed, so he decided to take the direct approach.

The necromancer spun around when he heard Ron getting closer. His hand lit on fire and blasted it at him. Quickly stopping and nearly losing his balance on the stairs, he pulled his shield up, blocking most of the blast and nearly falling over from the force.

Another two fireballs hit him before he risked a glance over his shield, just in time to see the zombie in front of him, its battle axe raised to drop on his shield.

Ron jumped to the side, just barely managing to avoid getting sliced in half by the undead. He quickly turned and ran down the stairs, deciding that fighting where he was was a _very_ bad idea.

He tripped just as he go to the bottom, a fireball flying over his head as he fell. Rolling onto his back, his eyes widened as he just barely managed to pull his shield up in time to block the axe. He hissed in pain as he felt the blade cut through the shield, cutting an inch into his arm.

Blindly, Ron swung his mace up at it. While the first swing missed, the second collided with the axe still in his arm, making a large cracking sound as the ancient stone shattered under the force of a relatively average sixteen year old.

He sighed in relief before scrambling backwards, gasping as he pulled the blade out of his arm. He looked back up at it, and his eyes widened as the zombie brought what remained of the handle of its axe down on him. He barely managed to twist his body out of the way before he would have been impaled.

Jumping to his feet, he spun, his bloody steel club slamming into the side of the zombie, crushing part of its torso. He quickly back pedaled away from the creature, surprised that it survived the blow, considering how weak the others were. Suddenly, his instincts flared up, causing him to stumble to the side, just barely managing to dodge a fireball. He had forgotten about him.

The zombie charged him, the splintered stone in its hand raised high. Ron pulled up his shield to block it, gritting his teeth against its unnatural strength. His eyes widened when it grabbed the shield with its free hand, pulling it to side. He circled around the zombie, trying to keep the shield between them. Suddenly, his instincts flared again, causing him to duck down just in time to dodge a fireball to the back.

Have been dodged, the fireball slammed into the zombie's head, exploding on contact and singing Ron's hair. As the headless, charred corpse of the undead fell, he turned around to finish off the necromancer, who looked to be severely regretting his mistake if the swears Ron could hear were any indication.

He slowly walked up the stairs, holding his shield in front of him to block the fireballs. He looked through the new crack in his shield to keep an eye on the necromancer. He swore in pain as the first fireball hit, seeping through the cracks and burning his wound. He pushed through the pain, slowly moving forward. He probably would have continued that until he reached him, if something hadn't happened.

"Yes, yes! Return me to this realm!" a woman yelled, her voice echoing throughout the cave.

The necromancer twisted to look at the tower, and Ron, getting over his surprise, took his chance.

"As our voices summon you the blood of the innocent binds you Wolf Queen!" a different, 'older' woman chanted.

Charging up the stairs, he let out a war cry as he brought his mace around to kill the necromancer. The man only had a second to turn in fear before his brains were splattered against the ground.

"Summoned with words. Bound by blood" was chanted repeatedly through the air.

Ron shuddered, gasping for breath.

"What? What are you doing, you fools! You cannot bind me to your wills!"

He grimaced as the voice echoed in his head, before centering himself and running forward. He had managed to make it around the tower and halfway up the stairs when the woman roared again.

"You ants don't have the power to bind me!"

He pushed himself harder, bursting up the stairs and onto the roof of the tower. Several robed people stood in a circle surrounding a large stone, a mass of purple energy floating above it

Some of the necromancers turned to look at him, but before any of them could react, the voice of the summoned spirit yelled again.

"Fools! You ants cannot bind me! Now, die!"

Suddenly a streak of purple light burst from the mass of purple and slammed into the massive stone between them all, causing it to glow for a moment before exploding. The blast fried the bodies of all the necromancers, throwing them off the tower as well. Since he was far enough away, Ron was only hit by the shockwave of the blast, causing him to fly back and crash into one of the pillars behind him.

He coughed up blood, choking slightly as it poured from his mouth. Groaning, he lifted his head to stare blankly at the dais, the purple mass of energy already dissipating, floating up through the top of the cave. His body hurt all over, his cauterized wound the worst, and he couldn't help but wondering, _"Why, exactly, did I want to be the hero again?"_

* * *

 **So, yeah. Update.**

 **Now, I will say this now, I plan for this to be a pretty long story. Romance won't be a big thing in this story. Maybe if I actually finish it and make a sequel I'll add romance, but for now, it's a moot point.**

 **Also, as you can see, don't expect quick updates. It took me about six months to get this out. I might have another chapter of this half done right now, but don't expect it for a while. (I have a horrible concept of time).**

 **Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, followed ad favorited this story.**


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